If you want a strong core and solid set of abs, combine a healthy diet and consistent fitness routine with these must-do moves
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Ask most men what body part they most want to improve, and abs will feature high on the list. A rock-hard six-pack not only looks good, it also proves you know what you’re doing when it comes to burning excess body fat and building hard, lean muscle mass.
Your abdominals are a collection of important postural muscles responsible for flexing your spine forwards, as when doing a crunch. The group also assists with breathing, stabilising the torso during exercise and protecting your internal organs from impact.
When people talk about the abs, they’re often referring to the rectus abdominis, a paired muscle that runs vertically on either side of the front of the abdomen, separated down the middle by a band of connective tissue called the linea alba, or ‘white line’. It’s this line, along with those that run horizontally across this muscle group, that creates the six distinct parts of a six-pack. (There are actually four vertical sections, but the bottom pair are just above the pubic bone and not typically visible.)
Heavy compound lifts, such as squats, deadlifts and overhead presses, are among the best moves for building your abs, because they require your core to work hard to stabilise your upper body and to transfer power between your legs and your torso. However, the abs are like every other muscle group in that they need to be targeted directly, from a variety of angles, to effectively elicit maximum muscle growth.
Which is where the following exercises come in...
ABS ANATOMY
1. The rectus abdominis is a long, flat muscle that runs down the front of your stomach and is better known as your abs, or six-pack. It’s an important stabilising muscle and is responsible for flexing your spine, as when performing a crunch. It also assists with breathing and plays an important role when forcefully expelling air from the lungs. It creates intra-abdominal pressure that protects your internal organs. It’s divided down the middle by the linea alba.
3. The internal obliques are deep-lying muscles that lie under the external obliques. They have two major functions: as antagonists to the diaphragm, to inhale and expel air from the lungs; and to rotate and bend the torso. This is achieved when the right internal oblique and left external oblique contract together, to flex and rotate the torso, bringing the left shoulder towards the right hip.
2. The external obliques are the largest and most superficial of the obliques, which run either side of the rectus abdominis. Their function is to pull the chest downwards. They also have limited actions in both the flexion and rotation of the spine.
4. The transverse abdominis are the deepest muscles of the abdominals group, lyin
